The Metamorphosis of Greek Cuisine : Routledge : 9781032341811 : 1032341815 : 10 Nov 2023 : This book is an ethnography of the metamorphosis of rural foods and traditional dishes and of the making of cuisine and identity in contemporary Athens. In the wake of the financial crisis in Athens in the mid-2015s, forgotten rural foods of the past are transformed into luxurious artisanal foods, while traditional dishes appear reinvented in fine-dining restaurants, after decades of darkness. How, and why is this all happening in a city of poverty, hardship and economic crisis? Through sensory descriptions and thick ethnographic material, it follows the Athenian affluent middle class in upscale delis and goes inside fine-dining restaurant kitchens, discussing the complex combination of cuisine, tradition, memory and identity, revealing the cultural logic and social aspects of cuisine. It demonstrates how cuisine emerges from very different, often contradictory social spaces, not only as an int